Battery Charger-MC-3000

[Steve W Pedersen]

I just ordered one of these units from amazon. This charger is the only one I could find that will allow me to set my own cutoff and top charge voltage. I hope by keeping between the knees of the typical lion charge envelope I can greatly extend the life of my battery's.
Is anyone else in vape land using this charger ?

My previous charger was the opus 3400.

 

[Mordacai]

Hello @Steve W Pedersen, I decided on one of these too.

SkyRC MC3000 is probably the only charger you'll ever need, and the 30 programs that you can customise are very useful. And unless you factory reset the charger, the programs are stored.

Most useful settings that I use are these.

Battery Type - select cell chemistry.
Charging Current - usually half the capacity of the cell in amps.
Target Volt - set at maximum capacity of cell or less.
Termination - you'll need to look at the cell data sheet to be certain, but it's may be 100mA or 0.10 on the charger.
Cut Time - this takes a little time to setup properly, as otherwise the charging cycle ends early and the cell isn't fully charged.

Hopefully this will be useful and you'll enjoy your new shiny.

 

[susieqz]

i'm still working on mine.
programming is very hard
i still haven't got it to fill only to 4.05 , which is what i got it for.
batteries stay much cooler when charging.
great fit n finish.
quality machine but hsrd to use.

 

[Mordacai]

@susieqz, that can be solved by using the advanced mode and setting the Target Volt to 4.5V as well as the Termination to Zero. Then adjust the Cut Time to achieve a full charge cycle, as if it's not set for long enough the charge cycle ends without reaching your set Target Voltage.

Hopefully this will help.

 

[susieqz]

thanks, mord.
i'll go try that now.

 

[Mordacai]

No worries @susieqz.

 

[Steve W Pedersen]

Super stoked about getting mine, tues can't come soon enough. I also have 10 VTC5D's that should arrive about that time, all of my batterys are shot takes 6 batterys in my mod to last 9hrs.

 

[susieqz]

YAY, I DID IT!
steve you're gonna love this thing once you figure out the programming.
i just filled batteries at .7 up to 4.05.
mooch says this will double battery life.

@Mordacai, may i impose upon you further?
i'd like to test batteries. is there an easy way to do that?
IR n capacity?
i think the manual talks about draining n filling batteries for capacity,
but i haven''t found anything about IR.
i haven't tried yet because i wouldn't understand the readings.
do i need to buy new batteries to compare mine to?

 

[susieqz]

steve. i'm so happy i gotta gush.
the fit n finish are better than i thot china could do.
it's heavy n the slides are much better than any i've seen.
it feels professional grade.
i haven't taken it apart, but if the soldering n stuff are as
good as the outside, it should last 20 years.
it comes with a great manual written by someone who understands english.
kinda over my head tho.

if you like good tools as much as i do, you're gonna be happy.

i worried i was being silly spending so much, but no longer.
buying batteries less often will let it pay for itself.

 

[Mordacai]

@susieqz, yes you can use a charge discharge cycle to confirm or find out the capacity of a cell. I haven't messed with that myself though.

And yes, it does display internal resistance. Don't know whether it uses AC or DC to do this though. I'll let you know where to find it when I have it on tomorrow and performing its duties.

 

[Mordacai]

I'm back.

You can access cell stats by using the channel buttons, cell resistance can be found there.

 

[m1ke]

Check this out, guys, Review of Charger SkyRC MC3000

 

[susieqz]

all those graphs must be nice, if you can understand them.
this charger is a bit advanced for me.

 

[Mordacai]

@susieqz, it is advanced but it's a really good and configurable charger. Not many of them round.

How many chargers allow you to set charge rates in 0.01A increments, so you can charge your cells at their optimal charge rate and not stress them.

 

[susieqz]

oh, i'm really happy about charging.
now that i have the program saved it's as fast to set up as my stupid charger.
plus, it charges in half the time with batteries staying room temp.
the i4 took 4 hours n the batteries were very warm.
this takes 2 hours n the batteries stay cool.
i still don't understand that.
faster charging should be hotter, but it isn't.

how do i learn to interpret the graphs?

i think i can set up charge/discharge/charge to get capacity, but how do i find out what a good capacity is?

 

[Mordacai]

Ah, you'll need to download the data sheets for the cells in question. And as long as they match up with their ratings with some degree of accuracy you're fine.

And the graphs I think that you're on about are time and voltage.

 

[susieqz]

i found ''spec sheet''.

that's it?

got anny idea how much batteries loose in 2 months? they've been charged 6-8 times.

 

[susieqz]

well, i didn't understand the spec sheet either.
but, i learned something cool.
for cycle life they charged 30qs at 4amps.
still got 300 charges n lost only a quarter.
if there's a straight line relationship ,
i'll get more than 1200 charges, charging at .7.
this thing will save me a bundle.

 

[Jazzman]

I'm back.

You can access cell stats by using the channel buttons, cell resistance can be found there.

That's the way to check the IR while charging. Just whatever battery bay you want (top row buttons) , press the channel button for that battery once and use the down arrow (bottom row buttons) and scroll down near the bottom to see BATT IR.

If you want to check IR before charging, or after charging, you can hold down both the up and down buttons together for 2 seconds and the screen will show all the occupied bays IR readings on the same screen.

This charger has sooo many features! And some are not documented in the manual.

Best tip though: Hook this up to a computer if you can and use the free program to start off programming. The ease of programming and testing different procedures like Charge>Discharge>Charge to measure current battery capacity, storage charge, etc., makes it much easier until you have a handle on how the stuff works. After you've played with it a bit you will know exactly how to program the memory locations with the buttons. The interface makes it much easier to visualize what is going on and how the programming works. After a couple of test runs with the interface so you have the knack of programming it that way, unplug from the computer and program the programs you want on the charger and assign memory slots. Dead easy to use from there.

If you have any questions let me know.

 

[susieqz]

thanks tons, jazz.
i need those details.
i'll try hooking up the laptop tomorrow,
but that sounds like a great way to get IR.